Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science [Paperback]

Stanislav Grof (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Recent advances in a variety of scientific disciplines have revealed the limitations of the Newtonian-Cartesian model of the universe. One of the interesting aspects of this development is the increasing convergence of science and the "perennial philosophy." The new research has led to a critical revaluation of ancient spiritual systems long ignored or rejected because of their assumed incompatibility with science. Here are Swami Muktananda on the mind. Swami Prajnananda on Karma. Swami Kripananda on the Kundalini. Ajit Mookerjee on the Kundalini. Joseph Chilton Pearce on spiritual development. Mother Teresa on love and service. Jack Kornfield on Buddhism for Americans. Fritjof Capra on the new paradigms. Rupert Sheldrake on morphic resonance. Karl Pribram on the holographic model. Claudio Naranjo on meditation, and more.

The papers in this book were presented at the seventh Conference of the International Transpersonal Association held in Bombay. The ITA is a non-profit organization that brings together individuals of different nationalities, professions, and philosophical or spiritual preferences who share in the view that there is a fundamental unity underlying all of humanity and the material world.

The cover photo is from the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art in the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri.

About the Author

Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years of experience in research of non-ordinary states of consciousness. He has been Principal Investigator in a psychedelic research program at the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, Czechoslovakia; Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University; and Scholar-in-Residence at the Esalen Institute. He is currently Professor of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, conducts professional training programs in holotropic breathwork, and gives lectures and seminars worldwide. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and the founding president of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA). In 2007, he was granted the prestigious Vision 97 award from the Vaclav and Dagmar Havel Foundation in Prague. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration; Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death, and Transcendence in Psychotherapy; The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness; Human Survival and Consciousness Evolution; and Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research; all published by SUNY Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873958497
• ISBN-13: 978-0873958493
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,587 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When scientists and mystics meet, September 18, 2008

By 

Bodhi Heeren (Copenhagen) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science (Paperback)

This beautiful book, orig. published in 1984, chronicles the meeting in India of ITA (The International Transpersonal Association) under the presidency of renowned master-psychologist Stanislav Grof. An event vivdly described by Fritjof Capra in his book "Uncommon wisdom". Capra of course one of the participants in this encounter between cutting-edge scientists and Indian mystcics like Swami Muktananda. (In "When The impossible Happens" Grof describes his rather powerful experience on this occasion with the controversial founder of Siddhi Yoga). There is also, rather surprisingly, a guest appearance by Mother Teresa.

In a way it's a bit sad and nostalgic to read these articles with their feeling of "We want the world and we want it now" and their thorough arguments for the necessesity of changing our values towards wholeness and spirituality. All the sweet dreams of an imminent paradigm shift and the hopes for a better world.

But as the predictions of financial and enviromental collapse seem all too precise, perhaps their positive visions will also be fulfilled.

An interesting historic document and quite a few of the articles still are highly relevant and engaging.